How many species of crossbill are there? David Callahan examines the taxonomy of this complicated family and addresses the crucial question that everyone is asking: when is a species not a species?

Scientists from Earthwatch, the international environmental charity, are conducting the first detailed ecological study of the rare and little known White-necked Rockfowl. 

With climate change now almost universally accepted as a fact of life, the next area of debate is what can be done about it? Dr Olly Watts, of the RSPB Climate Change Policy Team, sets out some of the steps being taken to mitigate its effects on British birds.

One record of a Far Eastern vagrant in Europe is remarkable; two of the same species within two months is little short of amazing. Following the latest sighting of Long-billed Murrelet, in Romania, Keith Vinicombe adds to his analysis of vagrancy patterns.

Special Report:

The outbreak in Suffolk of the H5N1 strain of bird flu earlier this year has again focused attention on the movements of wild birds. Using Common Teal as an example, Mark Grantham of the British Trust for Ornithology explains how a new mapping tool is helping us to understand where bird populations come from – and where they go.

What is the best way to help fast-declining farmland and woodland birds? By linking management of their habitats to up-to-date distribution maps which you can help plot online. The RSPB’s Sally Fisher reports.

About 130 bird species have become extinct in the past five centuries, and 180 are on the critical list. Simon Papps looks at some of those on the brink.

Attitudes towards wildlife are changing in the British countryside. With new schemes that will help convert words into actions, will our beleaguered bird populations begin to benefit? Simon Papps investigates.